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Swimmer Fibs, Says He Wasn't Robbed at Gunpoint in Rio during Olympics

"Thank God, they didn't take Ryan's 7 gold medals, or shoot him or something!"-- Ileana Lochte

4 Olympic swimmers -- Ryan Lochte, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen -- were riding in a Rio de Janeiro taxi toward their temporary homes in the Olympic Village when they were stopped by armed men and robbed early Sunday morning. The robbers were armed men dressed as police officers and approached the men as they were stopped at a gas station.

But not according to Lochte, who changed his story yesterday and said it was untrue. But then Lochte flip flopped again and admitted to NBC news that it was true. Ok, got that?

The USOC said the four Olympic Adonises are safe and have filed police reports and gone on with their Olympic lives. Thus ends a strange tale of lies and videotape, as the men changed their stories several times, apparently attempting to spare their hosts any embarrassment, or something.

Ryan Steven Lochte is an American competitive swimmer and a 12-time Olympic medalist, which ranks him tied second in swimming behind Michael Phelps. His seven individual Olympic medals rank near the top in men's swimming

The morning began with Ben Way of Fox Sports Australia reporting that Ileana Lochte, the swimmers mom, said that Brian had texted her and said he was robbed at gunpoint by armed men posing as police officers. His wallet was taken but he was otherwise fine.

Not long after that was reported, the IOC, the USOC and Ryan Lochte himself said the story was untrue (with no explanation as to why his mother was saying such things).

So, false alarm, all is well. Except USA Today then contacted Lochte's mom, who told them that yes, indeed, her son had been robbed at gunpoint. Ileana Lochte said she was on her way to see Ryan. "I'll be OK when I see him," she said. "Thank God, they didn't take his gold medal, or shoot him or something!"

Not long after that, Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira's representative, Flavio Perez, told the Washington Post that Lochte was indeed robbed. Buth then Lochte told NBC Sports it was true. Maybe it was that green water in the pool or something

One can certainly see that the swimmers wished to spare their Olympic hosts any embarrassment, and besides, all's well that ends well, right? I personally know two women who left Brazil for Los Angeles because they feared for their safety, and had been victims of crime.

In order to meet it's potential and become a truly great country, Brazil will have to tackle it's security problem sometime. The Olympics might have been a good occasion for that, but political corruption at the highest level got in the way.

 
 

Reader Comments(1)

capncaps writes:

Guess What? He didn't fib. All true. SMO reporter (or the wire reporter) got fact wrong. This has been confirmed by the IOC,(who originally got it wrong) USOC, ESPN.